Sup Engineers
 

So I got this water purifier (has been featured on the ABC show New Inventors). I'm taking it to Africa to set it up for a hospital, and I've been told I can improve upon the design as I see fit.

Here's a couple pics I took

http://img469.imageshack.us/img469/4083/set2112bt8.jpg

http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/1650/set2114qk7.jpg

It's quite a simple design so I'm not sure there's much to improve. But seeing as the hotter the water the better, I figure I should tape up that blue input tube with black tape.

Also I was thinking maybe attach some aluminum or something to the sides to reflect more light onto the SWP? Kind of like those things people sometimes use to get more sun on their face when sun tanning. Feasible?

Any other ideas?

Re: Sup Engineers
 

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It's quite a simple design so I'm not sure there's much to improve. But seeing as the hotter the water the better, I figure I should tape up that blue input tube with black tape.

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I'm not an engineer but I think the black tape isn't going to add any significant improvement. The problem with mirrors is they constantly have to be adjusted so they reflect the sunlight to the desired place.

Stu

Re: Sup Engineers
 

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It's quite a simple design so I'm not sure there's much to improve. But seeing as the hotter the water the better, I figure I should tape up that blue input tube with black tape.

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I'm not an engineer but I think the black tape isn't going to add any significant improvement. The problem with mirrors is they constantly have to be adjusted so they reflect the sunlight to the desired place.

Stu

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hmmm you sure? Ever had a shower with a hose left out in the sun? Seems to be significant

Re: Sup Engineers
 

You're comparing 75' of garden hose to 12 inches of inlet pipe. Nevertheless go ahead and tape it up. At worst you waste a little bit of tape. Its not like your going to harm the unit or anything.

Stu

p.s. I think you would be better off replacing that 12 inches of inlet hose with 75' of black garden hose.

Re: Sup Engineers
 

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At worst you waste a little bit of tape

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my thoughts too

Re: Sup Engineers
 

Whatever you do to "improve" the design, make sure you don't decrease the integrity or the reliability of the unit. You will be very unhappy when the unit breaks at a bush hospital in Africa.

What country are you going to?

Re: Sup Engineers
 

I like it.

How much did it cost you?

I would be concerned about cleaning. The example of seawater on the website at 35,000 ppm TDS being reduced down to 1-2 ppm leads me to believe that what isn't in the final product is going to accumulate somewhere. If you don't regularly scrub it, you will wind up with scale all over your black surfaces, limiting efficiency. I know they say "very little cleaning" but I think this is going be something requiring constant attention.

Also, that inlet hose might clog up with goo from the growies you are going have from available sources in the bush. You may want to back flush it when you scrub your solar panel.

In terms of improving it, I would be tempted to play with the angle of the incline on the panel, thinking that smaller drops will flow off the interior faster, letting more light through to the cells without refracting off the drops, evaporating off more water. Although, in the end, you might end up finding you get the best efficiency by just keeping the thing pointed directly at the sun.

If you really want to up the heat, try using some reflective material, like tin foil, to direct more sunlight at the array. Be careful you don't exceed the melting point of anything, though.

Re: Sup Engineers
 

I wouldn't mess with the total heat input or tilt without testing, because exposing the water to sun is part of the purification process, and this may be a time-dependent effect. Also, speeding up the throughput may result in less purification. I'm really not clear on the process without more info, but for example...you don't want any unvaporized water mixing with the condensate, so it wouldn't be good if the water ended up so hot that it boiled vigorously.

If you do want to preheat the water, I would blacken the input tank.

And of course, you need to make sure the hospital has access to citric acid (or whatever else can be used for cleaning).

6 liters of water doesn't seem like much.

I'm a killjoy [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img].

Edit: How about racing stripes?

Re: Sup Engineers
 

I like the design and frankly don't think it can be improved upon much. Preheating the water kind of defeats the purpose, because then you're just back at the oldschool distillery for pure water. The idea behind this, if I understand it right, is its independence from electrical outlets and outside energy sources.

I think the most important thing you could do is automate the filling/output process. Which is to say, assume you are drawing from an underground well, set up a siphon system or even a solar powered aquarium pump leading to the main tank. An aquarium pump has the bonus feature of clearing the water of large particulate matter which would reduce the need for cleaning. Configuring a solar aquarium pump would not be trivial unless you are an electrical engineer (probably why this is my contribution to this thread!).

Siphon is probably easier. Be sure to have the top covered on the water for whatever container catches the output.

Re: Sup Engineers
 

Thanks for the replies

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What country are you going to?

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Zambia

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How much did it cost you?

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I didn't buy it, the organization I'm working for did

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I would be concerned about cleaning. The example of seawater on the website at 35,000 ppm TDS being reduced down to 1-2 ppm leads me to believe that what isn't in the final product is going to accumulate somewhere.

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Not all the water is evaporated, some just runs straight through into the waste water outlet thing. I'm still skeptical about the no cleaning though

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6 liters of water doesn't seem like much.

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yeah, but it's for a hospital, I'm assuming it won't be for drinking

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6 liters of water doesn't seem like much.

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better than 0! [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]